Slate (magazine)
Slate is an online American magazine that covers politics, current events, and culture. It was founded in 1996 by Michael Kinsley with backing from Microsoft. In 2004 The Washington Post Company bought Slate, and since 2008 it has been managed by The Slate Group, part of Graham Holdings. The magazine is based in New York City, with an office in Washington, DC. Today, Slate runs on advertising and also offers a Slate Plus membership with a metered paywall for other readers.
Slate is known for publishing counterintuitive ideas and generally leans liberal in its editorial stance. It helped popularize digital journalism with hyperlinks and direct reader engagement, and it has a long-running podcast culture, including Political Gabfest since 2005.
Key milestones
- 1998: early paywall attempt drawing about 20,000 subscribers, later abandoned
- 2003–2004: profitable period and breakeven with growing readership
- 2007: launch of Slate V, a video project
- 2008: The Slate Group formed; The Root and The Big Money launched
- 2011–2014: switched content system to Adobe CQ5; layoffs; redesign; 30 million monthly visitors by 2014; Slate Plus launched
- 2015: international readers moved behind a metered paywall
- 2018–2019: union recognition and a three-year contract
- 2021: host Mike Pesca suspended over a controversy
- 2025: lawsuit filed against Google over antitrust issues
Global editions
- slate.fr launched in 2009 (French-language edition)
- slate Afrique launched in 2011 (African news edition)
Podcasts and awards
Slate hosts numerous podcasts, including Political Gabfest and Culture Gabfest, which have won awards and drawn large audiences.
Leadership
- Michael Kinsley (founder, 1996–2002)
- Jacob Weisberg (2002–2008)
- David Plotz (2008–2014)
- Julia Turner (2014–2019)
- Jared Hohlt (2019)
- Hillary Frey (editor-in-chief since 2022)
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:57 (CET).